The controversy becomes more and more hot. The leader of the Greens, Angelo Bonelli, goes to the attack of the current president of the National Institute of Geology and Volcanology and insists in saying that “designing a work on an active fault is madness”. The president Fabio Florindo, for his part, has already responded to the statements of the exponent of AVS, calling them “dismissed of any foundation”, indeed such as to prefigure a possible “alarm”. And to reply to Bonelli, the “Strait of Messina” company also takes the field.
At the center of the infinity debate on the bridge are seismic issues. “In relation to the note, surreal and scandalous, of the President of the Ingv Fabio Florindo, in office since 27 March 2025 – so Angelo Bonelli begins his lunge -, I remember that there is a principle of administrative continuity of the documents, valid except for specific resolutions of the board. The former president of the Institute, Carlo Doglioni, has already clarified the inadequacy of the Sismo-Tettonic studies on the bridge in institutional, noting that the project “PGA” (0.58 g) is seriously underestimated compared to possible values in the strait, easily higher than 1 Ge up to 1.5-2 g, well beyond those recorded in the earthquakes of L’Aquila (0.66 g) and of Amatria and Norcia (0.95 g). Deny that the Strait of Messina is potential epicentral area, in light of historical seismicity, such as the 1908 earthquake, and the instrumental one, means denying scientific evidence. Florindo claims that it is inaccurate to say that the Calabria side pylon insist on an active fault: false. The official catalog “Ispra-Ithaca” censor a fault about 20 meters from the foundations of the pylon of S. Trada, reported in the project drawings as “certain and active”. Nobody has ever asked to update the catalog or modify the project, and the danger of a fault in the seismic area is known to any structural engineer. It is a fact that the current President of the Ingv has signed a 250 thousand euro convention with the “Strait of Messina” company. Who are the scientific representatives of this convention? Have there been consultancy reports, such as that of Dr. Valensise? In light of the serious discrepancies with the positions of the former president Doglioni, I believe it is necessary to inform the judicial authority. Instead of liquidating the alarm as unfounded, Florindo should recognize that the risks raised by engineers, seismologists and geologists are founded, documented and well -known. Building a pylon on an active fault is not alarmism: it is madness and irresponsibility ».
And for the umpteenth time the CEO of the “Strait”, Pietro Ciucci, claims to be “forced” to “contradict the Hon again. Bonelli. It does not respond to the truth that a 250 thousand euro convention has been signed by the “narrow” company with the INGV. It is true, however, as announced more and several times, that the consolidated collaboration between the Ingv, the “Strait of Messina” and the general contractor will continue as expected also for the development of the executive design. Also sorry to have to remind Bonelli that also all the statements of prof. Doglioni were denied and rectified, lastly also by the Ingv himself. For the duty of science, we remind you that the bridge project provides for maximum accelerations exceeding 1.5 g, in the state of structural integrity limit, and not 0.58 g as it erroneously states. On the institutional website of the company there is a document written by the designers in whom the project spectrum of the work is compared with that recorded on the occasion of the earthquakes of L’Aquila and Amatrice. It is clear that at the frequencies of interest for the bridge the project accelerations are significantly higher than those recorded in the earthquakes of L’Aquila and Amatrice, and therefore the observations in this regard are completely without foundation. For geological and seismic aspects, the definitive project is accompanied by over 300 geological elaborations resulting from new and wider documentation to various graphic stairs, made with the aid of about 400 punctual investigations, between geological, geotechnical and seismic polls. All the faults in the area of the Strait of Messina are known, surveyed and monitored, including those of the Calabrian side. The positioning on active faults was avoided ».
